Calling time ... Yevgeny Plushenko announces to the judges his withdrawal from the figure skating short program

AFP Photo: Jung Yeon-Je

Two-time gold medallist Yevgeny Plushenko dramatically announced his retirement from figure skating after withdrawing from the Sochi Olympic Winter Games with a back injury.

Plushenko dramatically pulled out just before he was due to compete in the men's figure skating short program.

"Amateur sport is finished for me. Maybe not in the way that I wanted. But I leave with a gold medal, that is also great," Plushenko told Russian television.

The 31-year-old had taken to the ice for the six-minute warm-up before the start of the men's competition where he was bidding to become the first man to win five Olympic figure skating medals after already helping his team to gold.

But with two minutes and 25 seconds to go, he tried a triple axel and stumbled out of it.

The 2006 Olympic champion, and two-time silver medallist, then skated around the rink holding his back before trying the jump again.

Plushenko, who was the first up to skate in his group, went over to the referee Mona Jonsson shaking his head.

It was then announced that he was withdrawing from the competition.

Plushenko then bowed and waved to spectators as he left the rink to muted applause from the stunned and deflated crowd.

"I know that the morning after the free skate (of the team event) the (Russian figure skating) federation should have made a change, but at that time he was OK," Plushenko's coach Alexei Mishin said.

"We didn't do anything that wasn't fair play. At the end of the free skating (in the team event) he was feeling unsure. I have worked with him for 20 years. We have had lots of success.

"This is one incident in 20 years when he was not successful. Please be positive to him and respect him."

Team gold in Sochi was the second Olympic title for Plushenko who had won the men's event at the 2006 Turin Olympics. He was also a two-time silver medallist, in 2002 and 2010.

Another medal would have put him ahead of Swede Gillis Grafstroem as the most medalled man in Olympic figure skating. Grafstroem won four figure skating medals - three in gold - between 1920 and 1932.

Meanwhile, Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu set a new world record score in the men's short program to open up a 3.93-point lead on three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada.

"I wasn't trying to clear 100 points. I was just trying to turn in the best performance I possibly could - and I did," Hanyu said.

"I was very, very surprised by the score."

Australia's Brendan Kerry struggled with a score of 47.12 leaving him in 29th place.